


Last Hope

by fallintosanity (yopumpkinhead)



Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23979157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yopumpkinhead/pseuds/fallintosanity
Summary: Kunsel finds out Cloud was spotted in Shinra Tower.
Comments: 28
Kudos: 127





	Last Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InkTail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkTail/gifts).



> For a prompt on Tumblr by Inktail, which broke my heart.

_Cloud’s back_. 

The words echoed in Kunsel’s skull as he raced down the hall, as he jabbed at the elevator button and cursed whatever idiot architect designed the glass elevators to go slow enough to take in the view. 

_Cloud’s back._

Five years ago, Zack and Cloud went to Nibelheim together. Five years ago, Shinra announced they’d both been killed in the reactor incident that had claimed the entire Nibelheim investigation team - even the great General Sephiroth. But now Cloud was back. Cloud was alive. Did that mean Zack could be alive, too? 

Kunsel still remembered the last time he’d seen Zack, all those years ago. The ongoing subterfuge of the Genesis War and the loss of Zack’s mentor Angeal had obviously weighed on him, but Zack had still managed to be cheerful the morning of his departure. He’d promised to go with Kunsel to the new restaurant opening in Sector Four, and to help him train for his First Class promotion test. He’d said the Nibelheim investigation wouldn’t take long, would be an easy mission - a couple days of travel, a couple days in the mountains, and then he’d be home. 

But he’d never come home. Nibelheim had burned, and Shinra had covered up whatever had caused it so thoroughly that even Kunsel had never been able to figure out what had happened. What had gone so terribly wrong that it had killed both General Sephiroth and Kunsel’s best friend. 

_Cloud’s back._

Cloud was one of the infantrymen listed as “killed in action” in the Nibel report. Kunsel hadn’t know Cloud well, mostly just secondhand through Zack, but he remembered a slim blond boy who looked at Zack like he was the sun. _Everyone_ who met Zack looked at him like he was the sun, though. He had a talent for that, for sharing his delight in life, for making the people around him feel joy. Even after Angeal died, Zack had put on a cheerful face around most people. Most, not all: he’d spent hours crying on the couch in the barracks while Kunsel held him. But even after that, when the tears had run dry and the sobs had finally eased, the first thing Zack had done was ask if Kunsel was okay. 

The elevator arrived with a ding, and Kunsel barreled past the middle managers stepping out of it. He mashed the button for the 63rd floor, relieved when the doors slid closed without anyone else getting on. He bounced on his toes as the elevator moved, and launched himself out the moment the doors opened on the 63rd floor. Edy, the security officer who’d seen Cloud and run to fetch Kunsel, had said Cloud was on the upper level near the combat sim. Kunsel took the stairs two at a time and ran full-speed through the offices, nearly bowling over an accountant who stepped out of a doorway directly into his path. His SOLDIER reflexes let him dodge, and he barely remembered to call an apology over his shoulder. 

Kunsel couldn’t remember how many emails he’d sent Zack in the last five years, hoping and praying that someday he’d get a response. Shinra had said Zack was killed in action, but Kunsel had discovered enough of the company’s secrets to know that First Class SOLDIERs listed as KIA were almost never actually dead. But if Zack was alive, what had Shinra done with him? What had they done that they’d needed to hide him from the entire world for five years?

The cafeteria was mostly empty this time of night, only a handful of people scattered around the tables and benches. Kunsel glanced at them as he raced past, but they were just office drones in suits. Edy had said Cloud was wearing a SOLDIER uniform. How had Cloud gone from infantryman to SOLDIER First in five years, without ever returning to Midgar? Had Zack trained him? 

Up the curving stairs to the second level. Fewer people up here, mostly crowded around a television watching the news about the Sector 7 plate. One of the mayor’s underlings near the combat sim. No one in a uniform. 

Kunsel skidded to a stop in front of the mayor’s underling. “There was a man here a few minutes ago,” he panted. “Blond hair, SOLDIER uniform. Did you see him?” 

The underling flinched back, eyes wide. “No,” he said. “No! I’ve just been working on some reports for Director Tuesti.” 

“He was right here,” Kunsel said. “You couldn’t have missed him. Where did he go?” 

“I don’t know!” the man protested. His eyes darted side to side. “I wasn’t doing anything, I swear!” 

Kunsel grabbed the man by the shoulders. With his helmet on, he couldn’t force the man to look him in the eye, but he could try. He ground out, “I don’t care about the mayor’s stupid Avalanche insurgency. I just need to know where the blond man went.” 

The underling stared at Kunsel in horror, his mouth working soundlessly. Kunsel didn’t let go, and finally the man choked out, “He was going up to the sixty-fourth floor. He was with Avalanche, they’re going after the president. That’s all I know!” 

Kunsel was halfway back down the stairs by the man’s last word, his feet pounding on the marble floor. Through the offices, out into the lobby and toward the stairs up to the 64th floor—

Something hit him with the force of a behemoth’s punch. Kunsel went flying, and the wall he crashed into stole the breath from his lungs. Gasping, head spinning, he forced himself to his feet. 

_What the hell…?_

What had a moment ago been an empty staircase, now was full of ghostly spectres, cloaked and hooded and seeming made of dust. They swirled in tight bands across the bottom of both stairwells, an eerie wind howling around them. Kunsel growled in frustration and pitched himself toward them, only to be flung back once more. Better prepared this time, he managed to land on his feet. “Get out of my way!” he snarled, and drew his sword. 

But by the time he fought his way up to the 64th floor, the president and his entourage had departed. The floor was empty. Cloud was gone - and so was Kunsel’s last hope of finding Zack.


End file.
